Digital distribution has democratised access to global markets: any independent artist can have their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and 150 more platforms without needing a record label. But the system has nuances you need to understand to avoid losing money or rights.

How digital distribution works

You don’t upload music directly to Spotify. You do it through a digital distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, Amuse, CD Baby…) which delivers your audio and metadata to all platforms. In exchange, they charge you an annual fee or a royalty commission.

The flow is:

Artist → Distributor → Platforms → Listeners → Royalties → Distributor → Artist

Main distributors and their models

Distributor	Model	Commission	Notes
DistroKid	Annual fee (~£19/year)	0%	Unlimited releases, very popular
TuneCore	Per release (~£9 single/year)	0%	Good for fewer releases
CD Baby	One-time payment (~£9 single)	9%	No annual fee, good for occasional releases
Amuse	Free (basic plan)	0% or commission	Free plan with limitations
Bandcamp	Own platform	10–15%	Direct sales, highly valued by indie artists

For most independent artists releasing regularly, DistroKid or TuneCore offer the best value.

How much do you earn per stream

The reality of streaming royalties disappoints many artists. Approximately:

Spotify: ~€0.003–0.005 per stream
Apple Music: ~€0.007–0.01 per stream
Tidal: ~€0.012 per stream (higher as a HiFi-focused service)
YouTube Music: ~€0.002 per stream

To earn €1,000 from Spotify you need between 200,000 and 333,000 streams. Getting rich from streaming is very difficult unless you have a large and consistent audience.

The royalties most musicians miss

Streaming pays mechanical royalties (for the recording), but there are other royalty sources most artists overlook:

Collection societies — public performance rights

Every time your music plays in a bar, restaurant, radio, TV or concert venue, it generates public performance royalties. In the UK this is handled by PRS for Music and PPL. If you're a member and your works are registered, you get paid. If you're not registered, you lose that money.

Performer rights

Separate from composer/songwriter rights, performers on recordings that are broadcast on radio, TV or streaming can also receive royalties. In the UK, PPL handles this. Register as a performer if you play on released recordings.

Sync licensing

If your music appears in a film, series, advert or video game, it generates synchronisation royalties. Negotiated directly or through licensing agencies. One of the best-paid royalty sources, but also one of the most competitive.

Register your music correctly

Each release needs an ISRC (international code identifying the recording) and, if you have original compositions, an ISWC (code identifying the composition). Distributors assign ISRCs automatically. ISWCs are generated when you register works with your collection society.

Without ISRC, platforms can’t accurately count your streams. Without registration with a collection society, you lose public performance royalties.

Bandcamp as a strategic complement

Bandcamp is different from Spotify: people buy directly, and Bandcamp takes a 10–15% commission. For fans who want to actively support an artist, it’s the preferred option. Many independent artists earn more through Bandcamp (with a small but loyal audience) than through Spotify (with many streams but minimal royalties).

On Bandcamp Fridays, the platform waives its commission — the highest-sales day of the year for many independent artists.

Free and open culture platforms

Beyond Spotify and Apple Music there’s an ecosystem of platforms that operate on different principles: open licences, free/open source code, no commercial algorithms, and where the artist retains full control. They don’t replace mainstream platforms, but for certain artistic projects and certain audiences they can be the best option — or a valuable complement.

Jamendo — One of the reference platforms for music under Creative Commons licences. Free for artists, letting you choose exactly what uses you authorise (personal use, commercial, modification). It has a catalogue of over 600,000 tracks and a licensing section for businesses looking for rights-free music for videos, advertising and screenings. Publishing on Jamendo means your music can reach producers and content creators looking for legal, free alternatives.

SoundCloud — Technically not “free” in the free software sense, but its free plan allows uploading up to 3 hours of audio at no cost, and it has been for years the go-to platform for discovering independent and emerging artists. The community is active, and the timed comments (you can leave a comment at the exact second of a track) create a unique kind of interaction. Many genres — electronic, hip-hop, indie — maintain their own parallel scene on SoundCloud alongside the mainstream.

Funkwhale — A federated, open-source platform for sharing and listening to music, part of the Fediverse (the same ecosystem as Mastodon). Each instance is managed by a different community; you can connect across instances. Non-profit, no algorithms, no data selling. Aimed at collectives, independent labels and music communities that want their own infrastructure without depending on corporate platforms.

Internet Archive (archive.org) — The world’s largest digital library, with a vast audio section. Lets you upload music under Creative Commons or public domain licences for completely free and permanent distribution. Not an active discovery platform, but a highly valuable archival and distribution tool for experimental music, improvisation, live recordings or projects with an open access ethos.

ccMixter — A community specifically oriented towards remixing and collaboration under Creative Commons licences. Very active in electronic, ambient and experimental music. Publishing here means explicitly making your work available for other creators to remix, adapt and build upon — with appropriate credit.

When free platforms make sense

When your artistic project has an ideological dimension compatible with free culture (experimental music, activism, digital commons)
When you want your music to be legally reusable by content creators, documentary makers or educators
When you want to archive live recordings without depending on a commercial platform
When your audience is a technical or activist community that prefers alternatives to the mainstream
As a complement to mainstream distribution: you can be on Spotify and Jamendo at the same time — they’re not mutually exclusive

Creative Commons: the key

Most free platforms work with Creative Commons (CC) licences, which let the artist define exactly what uses they authorise:

CC BY — Free use with attribution (most open)
CC BY-NC — Free non-commercial use with attribution
CC BY-NC-ND — Non-commercial use, no modifications (most restrictive of the CC licences)
CC BY-SA — Free use with attribution and the same licence for derivative works

Choosing the right licence is an artistic and strategic decision. You’re not giving up your rights — you’re simply defining them with more precision than traditional all-rights-reserved allows.

Distribution alone isn’t enough

Uploading your music is just the first step. Nobody will listen to your record if they don’t know it exists. Streaming works when it’s paired with a communication strategy: social media presence, press kit for media, pitching to editorial playlists, and a website that gives context to your work.

Distribution is the tool. Digital identity is what makes the tool actually useful.